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Brawn: "Now he is truly a legend of the sport"

10:30, 30 Oct 2018

byJake Williams-Smith

F1 managing director Ross Brawn believes that by winning his fifth Formula One world championship, Lewis Hamilton has cemented himself as a legend of the sport. Hamilton drew level with the great Juan Manuel Fangio in Mexico, both winning five titles with only Michael Schumacher winning more with seven to his name.

Hamilton battled all season long with rival Sebastian Vettel in the race to five drivers championship titles in what Brawn believes is his hardest fought championship win yet.

Having been a part of the team that brought the Brit to Mercedes from McLaren in 2013, Brawn said that the achievement was "simply incredible".

"It’s hard to know how to congratulate Lewis for his fifth world title,” Brawn is quoted by Motorsportweek.

“It puts him level with the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio and that’s simply incredible.

“It’s also hard to find a sportsman in any other field who has achieved so much in so short a space of time.

“This is Lewis’ 12th season in Formula 1 and he’s won the title in almost half of them, which is truly amazing.

“It’s always hard to draw comparisons, but this was maybe the hardest won of all his titles.

“This year Mercedes faced stern opposition, again from a Ferrari car that was usually more competitive, as indeed was the case in Mexico,” said Brawn.

“To take the title with two races remaining is even more impressive, with Lewis supported by an equally brilliant team.

“If I had to choose one characteristic that makes Lewis special, it’s his ability to win so many races in which he wasn’t the favourite, as we saw several times this year – in Hockenheim, Budapest and Monza to name but a few.

“Of course, he also won those in which he was deemed to be the man most likely to win. It’s a characteristic he shares with the only driver to have won more titles than him – Michael Schumacher.

“Lewis was already part of Formula 1’s history and now he is truly a legend of the sport.”